HUMAN FLOURISHING AS REFLECTED IN PROGRESS
AND DEVELOPMENT
 The more that a population is able to consume,
the wealthier it is. Likewise, the more that a
person is able to buy stuff, the higher he/she is
on the development scale
 However, our planet is already overburdened
with human activities
 It is about time for us to rethink our standards
of development if we truly want to live the good
life
 Jason Hickel, an anthropologist at the London
School of Economics, challenges us to rethink
and reflect on a different paradigm of “de-
development.”
HUMAN FLOURISHING IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Technology as a Mode of Revealing
 Martin Heidegger- German philosopher who’s
famous for his work; The Question Concerning
Technology.
 Urges us to question technology and see
beyond people’s common understanding of it
 Essence of technology
 “can’t think about technology solely in the
confines of machinery or mechanical
advancement”
 “technology is a means to an end”
(instrumentality)
 “Technology is a human activity”
(anthropological)
 Instrumental and anthropological definition of
technology
 The manufacture and utilization of:
o equipment,
o tools
o machines,
 the manufactured and used things themselves,
 the needs and ends that they serve
 All belong to what technology is.
 Technology is an instrumentum, wherever there is
instrumentality reigns, there is causality
 Ancient Greek concepts
o Aletheia (greek word of truth) means
unhiddenness or disclosure
 Poiesis -Defined as bringing forth. For Aristotle
it means making or producing something for a
purpose
 Techne- root word for technology, means skill,
art, or craft
Technology as Poeisis Applicable to modern
Technology?
 Heidegger barrowed the word from Plato and
Aristotle as he tried to understand the nature of
modern technology
 Means revealing or bringing something to
existence that did not exist before; bringing
forth.
 Technology should be understood and bringing
to existence or revealing
 Heidegger characterizes modern technology as
a challenging forth.
 Modern technology challenges nature and
demands of its resources that are, most of the
time forcibly extracted for human consumption
and storage.
o Mining
 In modern technology, revealing is never ending
o Information at our fingertips
o Food harvested even out of season
o Gravity defied to fly off to space
 We order nature, extract, process, make ready
for consumption
 Heidegger described modern technology as the
age of switches, standing reserve, and
stockpiling for its own sake. This observation is
manifest in the mechanization and digitization
of many aspects of our life-from agriculture to
communications and transportation, among
many others.
THE PIETY OF THOUGHT
 Normally piety is associated with being
religious.
 Heidegger thought of piety means obedience
and submission.
 Thinking brings forth insights that has not yet
fully understood or developed.
 Whatever understanding is found becomes
significant because it is evoked by questioning
who or what we essentially are in the world.
 It is when we start questioning that we submit
ourselves to our thought. This kind of
questioning leads one to search for his/her
place in the universe and in the grand scale of
things. it is through this process that one builds
a way towards knowing the truth of who he/she
is as a being in this world

Enframing: way of Revealing in Modern
Technology
 The way of revealing in modern technology is
an enframing.
 Poeisis is concealed in enframing as nature is
viewed as an orderable and calculable of
information
 In looking at the world, Heidegger distinguish
between calculative thinking and meditative
thinking.
 Calculative thinking- puts a system to nature so
it can be understood better and controlled
 Meditative thinking- one lets nature reveal
itself to him/her without forcing it.
 Enframing is done because people want
security, even if the ordering that happens in
enframing is violent and even if the Earth is
made as a big gasoline station from which we
extract stockpile, and put in standing-reserve,
ready to be used as we see fit
HUMAN PERSON SWALLOWED BY TECHNOLOGY
 Limits must still be recognized
 We lose the essence of who we are as beings in
this world
 Constantly plugged online
 If we cannot let go of the conveniences and
profits brought about by processes and
industries that pollute the environment and
cause climate change, then technology has
consumed our humanity
 Essence is the way in which things are, as that
which endures. Heidegger further asserted that
the “essence of technology is nothing
technological.”
 The essence of technology is not found in the
instrumentality and function of machines
constructed, but in the significance such
technology unfolds
Art as a Way out of Enframing
 Enframinng, as the mode of revealing in modern
technology tends to block poeisis. The poetry
that is found in nature can no longer be easily
appreciated when nature is enframed
 If the Earth has just become a gas station for us,
then we have become enframed as well
 In modern technology, the way of revealing is
no longer poetic; it is challenging.
 When instrument are observed linearly, its
poetry can no longer be found
 Heidegger proposes art as a way out of this
enframing. With art we are better able to see
the poetic in nature in reality.
 It leads us away from calculative thinking and
towards meditative thinking. Through
meditative thinking, we will recognize that
nature is art par excellence. Hence, nature is
the most poetic.
RECAP
HUMAN FLOURISHING
♪An effort to achieve self-actualization and fulfillment
within the context of a larger community of individuals.
♪Involves the rational use of one's individual human
potentialities, including talents, abilities, and virtues in
the pursuit of his freely and rationally chosen values and
goals.
♪Human flourishing arises as a result of different
components such as:
 Phronesis (practical wisdom)
 Friendship
 Wealth
 Power
THE GOOD LIFE
Good Life- People’s definition of the good life may vary
and differ in the particulars. In general, we recognize
universal truths that cut across our differences.
Aristotle
 The most significant thinker and the most
accomplished individual who has ever lived.
 Aristotle's philosophy has underpinned the
achievements of the Renaissance and of all
scientific advances and technological progress
to this very day.
NICOMACHEAN ETHICS AND MODERN CONCEPTS
Aristotle stated:
1. “All human activities aim at some good. Every art and
human inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is
thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the
good has been rightly declared as that at which all
things aim” ( Nicomachean Ethics 2:2 )
  The good is expressed and manifested in many
various ways for different persons and
circumstances.
 The good life, however, is more than these
countless expressions of what is good.
2. Both the many and the cultivated call it happiness,
and suppose that living well and doing well are the
same as being happy
( Nicomachean Ethics 1:4 )
 The ancient Greeks called this concept of “living
well and doing well” as eudaimonia.
 The word came from the greek word eu meaning
“good” and daimon meaning “spirit”
3. Now such a thing as happiness above all else, is held
to be; for this we choose always for itself and never for
the sake of something else, but honor, pleasure, reason,
and every virtue we choose indeed for themselves, but
we choose them also for the sake of happiness, judging
that by means of them we shall be happy. Happiness on
the other hand, no one chooses for anything other than
itself.
(Nicomachean Ethics 2:7 )
 According to Aristotle, happiness is the ultimate
end of human action. It is that which people
pursue for its own sake.
o Financial stability
o Winning the elections
o Harmony and peace as a reward for
taking care of the environment.
Happiness defines a good life. This happiness,
however is not the kind that comes from sensate
pleasures. It is that which comes from living a life
of virtue, a life of excellence, manifested from the
personal to global scale.
4. It is the activities that express virtue that control
happiness, and the contrary activities that control its
contrary
(Nicomachean Ethics 1:10)
 All these and more are pursued for the sake of
happiness.
“Man of the world” - Supposed to situate himself in a
global neighborhood, working side by side among
institutions and the government to be able to reach a
common goal.
5. Virtue, then, being of two kinds, intellectual and
moral, intellectual virtue in the main owes its birth and
growth to teaching ( for which reason it requires
experience and time), while moral virtue comes about
as a result of habit (Nicomachean Ethics 2:1 )
 Virtue plays a significant role in having a good
life. It is the excellence of character that
empowers them to do good. Such virtue is
cultivated with habit and discipline as it is not a
one-time deed, but a constant and consistent
series of actions.
 The good life does not happen where only one
person is flourishing; others have to be in it, too
Basically…
 Nicomachean Ethics is grounded on the
concept of Golden Mean. Golden Mean is the
middle ground between two extremes: too
much of something and too little of the same
thing. Aristotle maintains that in order for men
to live a virtuous lives, they ought to find that
middle ground and anchored their actions on
such. Through reflection, men can find these
virtues (golden mean). Take for instance
bravery. Too much bravery would mean
recklessness, too little of it is cowardice. Both
the former and latter (vices), according to
Aristotle, must be avoided if one wishes to act
virtuously.
Wit, Buffoonery, and Boorishness
 having a good conversation is a key ingredient to
have a good life
 Some people lack of sense of humor (boor),
someone who is useless at any social intercourse
because he contributes nothing and takes offense
at everything.
 Others carry humor to excess (buffoon), cannot
resist a joke, sparing neither himself, nor anybody
else, provided he can raise a laugh.
 The virtuous person is being witty and tactful
How can you possibly ever learn to be virtuous?
 Virtue is a skill, a way of living and that’s something
can really be learned through experience.
 Virtue is a practical wisdom
Do we really need to live virtuously?
 If you are virtuous, you can attain the pinnacle of
humanity, which is eudaimonia, sometimes
translated to human flourishing
 The onward progress of science and technology is
also movement towards a good life. It is one of the
highest expressions of human faculties. Science and
technology may also corrupt a person, but grounding
oneself in virtue will help him/her steer clear of
danger.
WHEN TECHNOLOGY AND HUMANITY CROSS
•the good life entails living in a just and progressive
society whose citizens have the freedom to flourish. The
human person has the autonomy to make choices which
enable the flourishing of him /her and society.
•the ever-growing society has made people see
technology some form of necessity. The roles played by
technology these days are very crucial not only to a few
but also to everyone.
technology these days enjoys such fame and glory
because of the many different benefits it brings to
mankind.
•technology brings not only convenience but also
pleasure and happiness to people.
ex. Music, movies, games, etc
•technology keeps on progressing due to not only the
changing times and environment but also to over
progressing mind of mankind
•it would not be possible for all these technological
advancements to exist if it were not for the brilliance,
creativeness, and power of the mind.
•Anything too much is bad.
TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICES
Television
o Was a product of different experiments by various
people
o Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a german student in the late
1800s was successfully sent images through wires
with the aid of a rotating metal disk. This is called
the “electric telescope”
o in 1907, two inventors; Alan Arachibald Campbell-
Swinton and Boris Rosing created a new system of
television by using cathode ray tube. This gave rise
to two types of television systems; Mechanical and
electronic television
 According to Kantar Media, in the Philippines, 92%
of urban homes and 70% of rural homes own at
least one television set.
Mobile Phones
o Communication
o Necessity
o More than half of the Filipino population owns a
mobile phone.
o On April 3,1973, Martin Cooper a senior engineer
at Motorola, made the world’s first mobile phone
call. The mobile phone he used was capable of a
30-talk time and will took 10 hours to charge
o In 1983 Motorola made their first commercial
mobile phone; the Motorola DynaTAC8000X
Computers and Laptops
o Not all Filipino families owns a computer or
laptop.
o The profits gained by the computers and laptops
manufacturers came from offices, businesses or
schools.
o Charles Babbage an English Mathematics
professor, who designed the Analytical Engine
which was used as the basic framework of the
computers.
o The first true portable computer was released in
April 1981. it was called the Osborne 1 .
Roles Played by These Technological Advancements
 Television
 Mobile Phones
 Computers and Laptop
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
The UDHR explicates the fundamental human rights in
30 articles. It outlines inalienable human rights that are
vital and necessary in the pursuit of the good life. The
first seven articles of the UDHR encapsulate the spirit of
the so-called “milestone document in the history of
human rights”
Article I
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience
and should act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.
Article 2
everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set
forth in this declaration, without distinction of any kind,
such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or
other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth
or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be
made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or
international status of the country or territory to which
a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust,
non-self-governing or under any other limitation of
sovereignty.
Article III
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
person.
Article IV
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and
the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article V
No one Shall be subjected to torture or to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article VI
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a
person before the law.
Article VII
All are equal before the law and are entitled without
any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are
entitled to equal protection against any discrimination
in violation of this Declaration and against any
incitement to such discrimination.
Ethical Dilemma Faced by These Technological
Advancements
What is an Ethical Dilemma?
- Conflict between two alternatives Dilemmas
Technology brings people together
- Digging deeper
- Responsibility
- Contraceptive pills
- People in the scientific world nor the children are
blameworthy.
ROBOTICS AND HUMANITY
•Another great product of the innovative minds of the
people is the robot. A robot is an actuated mechanism
programmable in two or more axes with a degree of
autonomy, moving within its environment, to perform
intended tasks without human intervention. Ex. Service
robots.
 Service robot
oA robot that performs useful tasks for human
or equipment excluding industrial automation
application
 Personal service robot or a service robot for
personal use
oUsed for noncommercial task. Ex. Automated
wheelchair, vacuum, and pet exercising robot
Professional Service robot or a service robot for
professional use
o Used for commercial task.
- Cleaning robot for public places
- Delivery robot in offices and hospitals.
- Fire-fighting robot
- Rehabilitation robot
- Surgery robots
Germany was one of the first countries to develop
service robots. As part of the German Federal Ministry
of Education and Research’s “Service Robotics
Innovation Lead Initiative,” it sponsored a collaborative
project called DESIRE (Deutsche Servicerobotik-
Initiative) which was launched on October 1, 2005
Some of the expected work to be performed by DESIRE
are the following:
1.“Clear up the kitchen table”
2.“Fill the dishwasher”
3.“Clear up this room
Early Conceptions about Robots
 Around 3000 B.C. Egyptians water clocks used
human figurines to strike the hour bells.
 In 400 B.C., Archytas of Tarentum, inventor of the
pulley and the screw, also invented a wooden
pigeon that could fly.
 In the first century A.D., Petronius Arbiter made a
doll that could move like a human being.
 Giovanni Torriani created a wooden robot that
could fetch the Emperor's daily bread from the
store in 1557.
Roles Played by Robotics
Robots also have their own set of rules and
characteristics that define what a good robot is. These
laws were formulated by Isaac Amisov.
Law One:
 A robot may not injure a human being or, through
inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
Law Two:
 A robot must obey the orders given it by human
beings except where such orders would conflict
with the First Law.
Law Three:
 A robot must protect its own existence as long as
such protection does not conflict with the First or
Second Law.
Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Robotics
1.Safety- who should be held accountable if someone’s
safety is compromised by a robot?
2.Emotional Component- sounds funny, but looking at
how fast technology progresses nowadays, it is not
completely impossible for robots to develop emotions
 Artificial Intelligence
ois the simulation of human intelligence
processes by machines, especially computer
systems.
Question: what if robots become sentient? Should
they be granted robot rights?
Partial autonomy - includes active human- robot
interaction
Full autonomy - excludes active human- robot
interaction
 Using Asimov’s laws for robots, it can be concluded
that robots are ethical but only if they strictly
follow the laws specified.
 The service robots only follow what their masters
tell them to do with great consideration to the laws
formulated by Asimov.
 If the robot problems arise when the robot
deviates from the laws specified then the maker or
the inventor of the machine should be
blameworthy.
 If the robot develops the ability to think, the one
that should be blame can be both the maker or
inventor and the robot itself. This is because, the
maker gave the robot the capacity to think for itself
For the second dilemma, it is just right for the robots to
be given their own set of rights. Before, animals did not
have their own set of rights because people believed
that they were not capable of having emotions, later on
it was concluded that animals are indeed capable of
emotions. The same should be done to robots without
any reservations
WHY THE FUTURE DOES NOT NEED US
 Chief scientist and corporate executive officer of
Sun Microsystems, Bill Joy, wrote in 2000 a
controversial essay, “Why the future does not need
us.”
 Humans should have learned the lesson in the
atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 that killed over a
hundred thousand people. Brilliant physicists, led
by J. Robert Oppenheimer, brought into existence a
deadly nuclear weapon
 Joy used the novel The White Plague by Frank
Herbert as a potential nightmare scenario in which
a mad scientist created a virus capable of wiping
out humanity
 In his work, he contended that our most powerful
21st- century technologies are:
oGenetics
oNanotech
oRobotics
•With GNR, we are called to be circumspect and
questioning of technology, as Heidegger propounded, it
is in the questioning that we build a way.
•GNR today is accessible to small groups and individuals
and does not require huge funding and facilities unlike
those needed by nuclear weapons of mass destruction.
By these GNR became more prone to accidents and
abuses
•He also voiced out that computers will eventually
become more intelligent than men leading to such a
dystopian scenario as robot rebellion.
•Human nature may be corrupted when the powers of
our mind, our rationality, and our science and
technology become manifest.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT POLICIES THAT PROTECT THE
WELL-BEING OF THE PERSON IN THE FACE OF NEW
TECHNOLOGY
Republic Act No. 10173
•Approved on January 6, 2012. This law is known as
the Data Privacy Act of 2012. This law fundamental
human rights of privacy of communication
which ensures free flow of information to promote
innovation and growth
1987 Constitution
•Which stipulates that the “State shall protect and
advance the right of the people to a balance and
healthful ecology with the rhythm of nature.
Philippine Agenda 21
•Which serves as the nation’s blueprint for sustainable
development.
Inter-Agency Committee on Climate Change (IA CCC)
•Which aimed at harnessing and synergizing the
various activities undertaken by the national
government and civil society in response to the crisis
pose by the growing on climate change
Republic Act 8749 (Clean Air act of 1999)
•That moves for an effective air quality management
program that will mitigate the worsening problem of air
pollution
Republic Act no. 8435 (Agriculture and Forestry
Modernization Act of 1997)
•States that the Department of Agriculture (DA) should
take into account climate change, weather disturbance,
and annual productivity cycle in order to forecast and
formulate appropriate agricultural and fisheries
programs
Republic Act No. 9003 (Solid Waste Management Act
of 2000)
•Aimed at providing a comprehensive solution to the
country’s garbage problem
Republic Act No. 9275 (Philippine Clean Water Act of
2004)
•Moves for a comprehensive water quality
management
Administrative Order 171, 2007
•Created Presidential Task Force on Climate Change
(PTFCC) to address and mitigate the impact of climate
change in the Philippines
Republic Act No. 9729 (Climate Change Act of 2009)
•Systematized and integrated the concept of climate
change in the policy formulation and development plan
of all government agencies and units to prepare the
government for the impact of climate change
Philippine Climate Change Commission (PCCC)
•Under the office of the President as the policy making
body of the government to coordinate, monitor and
evaluate the program and action plan relating to climate
change
National Framework Strategy on Climate Change 2010-
20-22
•Committed towards ensuring and strengthening the
adaptation of our natural ecosystem and human
communities to climate change
CURRENT ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
•The Notre Dame’s John J, Relly Center for Science and
Technology announced a list of emerging ethical issues
as well as policy
issues in science and technology
Personalized genetic tests/ personalized medicine
•Within the last 10 years, the creation of fast low-cost
genetic sequencing has given the public direct access to
genome sequencing and analysis. Are we headed
toward a new era of therapeutic intervention to
increase quality or new era of eugenics?
-Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
Hacking Into medical devices
•Implanted devices, such as pacemakers are
susceptible to hackers.
•Barnaby Jack of security vendor IOActive,
demonstrated the vulnerability of a pacemaker
Driverless Zipcars
•In three states, Nevada, Florida, and California-it is
now legal for Google to operate its driverless cars.
»Safer than a human operated vehicle
3-D Printing
•Scientists are attempting to use 3-D printing to
create everything from architectural models to human
organs, but we could be looking at a future in which we
can print personalized pharmaceuticals or home printed
guns and explosives
Adaptation to climate change
•The differential susceptibility of people around the
world to climate change warrants an ethical discussion.
We need to identify effective and safe ways to help
people deal with the effects of climate change
Low-quality and counterfeit pharmaceuticals
•Detecting low-quality and counterfeit
pharmaceuticals required access to complex testing
equipment, often unavailable in developing countries
where these problems abound. The enormous amount
of trade in pharmaceutical intermediaries and active
ingredients raise a number of issues
»Technical (improvement in manufacturing
practices and analytical capabilities)
»Ethical and legal ex. India ruled in favor of
manufacturing life-saving drugs even if it violates U.S
patent law)
Autonomous Systems
•Machines are increasingly evolving from human-
controlled to automated.
Human-animal hybrids (chimeras)
•So far scientists have kept human-animal hybrids on
the cellular level. According to some, even more modest
experiments involving animal embryos and human stem
cells violate human dignity between species.
Ensuring access to wireless and spectrum
•Data breach
•Microprocessors and permanent memory are
inexpensive technology, we need to think about the
kinds of information that should be collected and
retained.
Human Enhancements
•Pharmaceuticals, surgical, mechanical and
neurological enhancements are already available for
therapeutic purposes. But some enhancements can be
used to magnify human biological function beyond the
societal norm.